Have you ever seen an antelope the size of a cat, or a frog bigger than a lapdog? This heavily illustrated atlas (with photos up to 21 inches wide, and many two-page spreads that feature a dozen or more photos, maps, and drawings) provides a spectacular visual survey of animals and their habitats across the globe. Organized by continent and habitat type—from the Great Barrier Reef to the Appalachians, from the ocean floor to the cloud forests—the atlas describes the bizarre, beautiful, and highly specialized wildlife of each location.

"No question: The stars of this book are such charismatic megafauna as the bald eagle (North America), the blue-footed booby (the Galapagos Islands and elsewhere), the Komodo dragon (the Sundaland in the Indo-Malayan archipelago) and the walia ibex (a mountain goat found in Ethiopia). But my attention was caught by something mundane but rather outlandish: those fleshy fungi that stick out of trees in the Shenandoah National Park (among other places) like chins without a face. They're called shelf fungi, and according to the text they are pathogens when growing on live trees but, when cooked, have a taste and texture 'reminiscent of chicken.' The atlas is organized by continent, with special sections on the poles and the oceans. At the end comes an 'animal factfile' that includes such captivating information as the number of marsupial mammal species: a surprising 298, five more than the number of tortoises and turtles. There are also four species of egg-laying mammals, the most famous of which is the duck-billed platypus, that creature that seems to have been designed by a trickster god. And whenever you see a beast with a backbone, be aware that it is an exception: 'More than 95 percent of animals,' the authors write, 'are invertebrates.' With ample maps and photos, this is a book that can be browsed endlessly."—Washington Post Book World